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BASEBALL; Angry Yanks Can't Beat Orioles or Elements

It was the ultimate absurdity. The Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles squeezed in an official game today, but they will have to replay it because it ended in a 1-1 tie after five innings. In the end, Hurricane Isabel overtook Camden Yards, as just about everyone expected, except perhaps the Orioles and Major League Baseball.

The decision to play the game infuriated the Yankees, who hurriedly left afterward for Baltimore-Washington International Airport, which was all but shut down as the storm worsened. The Yankees' charter plane arrived safely about 6:20 p.m. in Tampa, Fla., where they will play a weekend series against the Devil Rays. But even before the team arrived, George Steinbrenner, the Yankees' principal owner, was raging about the risk the Yankees had been put through in having to play today's game. ''This was incredibly bad judgment and stupidity by the commissioner's office,'' Steinbrenner said in a statement. ''Schools, businesses and athletic events were all called off, and yet, the game went ahead. It was inappropriate and an act of great stupidity.''

The Yankees wanted to postpone today's game until they play the Orioles next weekend at Yankee Stadium, which would have allowed them to fly to Tampa before the storm hit. But Katy Feeney, a baseball vice president in charge of scheduling, said that shifting the game was a last resort. ''The first thing you always try to do is play the game where it's scheduled,'' Feeney said. ''If it wasn't, every visiting team would say, 'Let's just play it at our house.'''

The Orioles rejected the option of switching the game. Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said he was told by Joe Foss, the Orioles' chief operating officer, that people here were overreacting to the approaching storm. Foss declined comment through Bill Stetka, an Orioles spokesman. ''We presented a number of options to the Yankees on Tuesday, including playing a day-night doubleheader on Wednesday, and they were rejected,'' Stetka said.

Informed of Steinbrenner's comments about the commissioner's office and the Orioles, Peter Angelos, the Orioles' owner, lashed out at him in Friday's Baltimore Sun. ''There goes George again,'' Angelos said. ''He didn't get his way. Like a spoiled child, he berates and insults people, never realizing that his tirades strongly suggest that he may very well be the one who's suffering from the condition he attributes to others.''

The Yankees and the Orioles have bickered over baseball schedules before. In April 2002, the Orioles irritated the Yankees by scheduling a night game in Baltimore before the Yankees' home opener the next afternoon. Last month, the Orioles grumbled about having to play a night game in New York before flying to the West Coast.

Cashman said no side issues should have affected today's decision. ''You make the decision based on the weather report and the safety of the fans and players,'' he said. ''We didn't think the facts supported attempting to play at all.''

Gene Orza, the associate general counsel for the players' union, said there should have been an agreement to make up the game in New York next week, with Steinbrenner and Angelos agreeing to split the profits. Because of the tie score, the teams will play a doubleheader next week anyway.

''It seems strange to me that the U.S. government, the Maryland government and the N.F.L. all made adjustments for the weather, but somehow the Orioles simply had to play the game today and couldn't tolerate playing in New York,'' Orza said. ''That's bad judgment.''

Orza said he was the one who proposed the day-night doubleheader idea -- to the player representatives for the Yankees, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Boston Red Sox. All three teams were scheduled to play today in areas near the storm's path, and all three rejected the idea.

Pitcher Mike Mussina, the Yankees' player representative, said he told Orza the team was not prepared for a day-night doubleheader. The Yankees played a doubleheader last Saturday and did not have an extra starter available. ''It wasn't in our best interests to play, so they decided not to play one,'' Mussina said of playing a doubleheader. ''Who was going to pitch for us yesterday? We just played one four days ago.''

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Cashman said he supported the players' decision to reject a doubleheader, noting that the Yankees are in the midst of playing 34 games in 34 days. ''We're trying to win the American League East title,'' Cashman said. ''We haven't secured anything. We're sucking wind right now trying to get to our next off-day to catch our breath.''

So today's game went on. The day began with Yankees players joking bitterly in the clubhouse about the weather. ''We're entertainers; we have to entertain,'' one player said. Another wondered aloud about how many fans would show up. Aaron Boone imitated a wind-blown field reporter on TV.

As Yankees Manager Joe Torre met reporters in the dugout before the game, the public address system played ''Riders On The Storm'' by the Doors. Torre was not laughing. ''I'm angry, because I don't know what sense it makes,'' Torre said. ''I don't know why we're playing this game, because it's not a financial thing.''

Because the Orioles moved the game time to 12:35 p.m. from 7:05 p.m., they will offer refunds or limited exchanges to fans who did not use the tickets. The team sold 29,093 tickets; Mussina guessed that about 1,500 people showed up. ''It really was not about the gate,'' Stetka said.

The fans who came sat wherever they wanted; most clustered under the overhang in the lower deck or in the first few rows around the field. The only fan in the upper deck was the Orioles' mascot, who comically sunned himself with a reflector.

The game had a hurry-up feeling. The Yankees' first two outs came on called third strikes, and umpires compressed the time between innings. It started raining in the bottom of the first, steadily increasing through the fifth, when Baltimore's Pedro Swann led off with a double.

Sensing the end of the game, the Orioles played for one run. Robert Machado struck out trying to bunt Swann to third, and when Brian Roberts singled to short left, Tom Trebelhorn, the third-base coach, started waving Swann home. He stopped him too late.

Swann was caught in a rundown between third and home and tagged out, and Luis Matos grounded out to end the inning. With five innings complete, the grounds crew dashed onto the field before the players reached the dugout. It was a tie game, and must be replayed because the teams meet again.

The Yankees have not heard the last of Bubba Trammell, the outfielder who was put on the restricted list after leaving the team for unexplained reasons in late June. The Yankees are not paying Trammell, who is owed $4.75 million next season, and the players' union is apparently taking up his cause. ''The day of judgment is coming for the Yankees,'' said Gene Orza, associate general counsel for the players association, in regards to Trammell. The union must prove Trammell belongs on the disabled list and not the restricted list in order for him to be paid. General Manager Brian Cashman had no comment Thursday, but the Yankees have said Trammell had no physical injuries.